The first thing Michael did was to use Extraction on the crystal chains to extract as many components as possible. He left only a tiny part of the main component hanging to prevent the crystal chains from breaking.
Why did Michael do that? He wanted to break the crystal chains simultaneously with little to no energy consumption once the taming process had been completed.
Once Michael replenished his energy storage, he conjured the magic circle of Taming for the second time since he procured the Soultrait. He weaved the magic circle meticulously and added as much energy as possible to fortify the taming circle. The circle's shape changed slowly, morphing into a crimson-colored pentagon as it moved below the feet of the Elemental Empress.
The Elemental Empress twitched once after the taming circle appeared beneath her, but she didn't reject it. The Soul Pacts weighing down on her didn't seem to affect the taming process either. Nothing seemed out of place. Step one of the taming process had been completed successfully.
Unfortunately, step one was the easiest step. Followed by the manifestation of the taming circle, the real taming process was initiated.
Michael's focus remained on the taming circle to keep it intact. Simultaneously, he used the taming circle to enter the Elemental Empress' consciousness where her soul resided. It hadn't been necessary to enter Sun Demos' consciousness when Michael used Taming for the first time. However, the same method as last time couldn't be applied here.
He had a dozen Soul Pacts to pay attention to while taming the Elemental Empress after all.
At first, Michael wanted to crush the Soul Pacts while taming the Elemental Empress, but he decided against this idea. Rather than doing something dangerous like that, Michael chose to tame the Elemental Empress first to alter her soul before waiting for the response of the Soul Pact. Afterward, Michael would still be able to enter the Elemental Empress' consciousness since the Elemental Empress would become a part of him; his second tamed monster.
The crimson pentagon, the taming 'circle', manifested in the Elemental Empress' consciousness. But instead of focusing on the taming circle right off the bat, Michael looked around. In the center of the consciousness, a thin, and fragile pillar of light could be seen. It was as fragile as the Elemental Empress, and it was restrained by chains that were tightly coiled around it in a vice-like grip.
There were a total of a dozen chains coiled around the pillar of light, preventing it from growing or expanding further. The pillar of light was unmoving. It didn't even respond to a foreign existence infiltrating its realm. Every trace of energy entering the pillar of light inflicted pain, forcing the Elemental Empress to distribute the energy to create new elemental cores to create new lives.
While staring blankly at the dozen chains and the weak pillar of light, Michael was once again reminded that the Elemental Empress was used as a breeding facility by the Kitsun Lord. It was disgusting and beyond cruel.
Michael came back to his senses and was filled with the mad urge to skin that bastard alive. But for now, he had an important task to do. Clenching his fist and gritting his teeth, he returned his full focus to the application of the taming circle inside the Elemental Empress' pillar of light.
Instead of affecting the Elemental Empress' pillar of light from the outside like each of the chains, the taming circle would influence the pillar of light from the inside. This particular fact was also the sole reason why Michael felt that it was possible to overwrite the Soul Pacts. The taming circle would be much higher on the list of priorities after all.
Time slowed down as Michael inserted the taming circle inside the pillar of light. It was a slow task that required a tremendous amount of energy, and focus. Not a single mistake was allowed as both tamer and the tamed monster would have to face the consequences.
Michael would survive it rather easily. He might end up with a bad headache for a few days, but that was it. However, the same couldn't be said about the Elemental Empress. Even if the backlash was not noteworthy, it would probably be enough to kill the Elemental Empress. She had been confined for too long and grown very weak.
As the taming circle was inserted into the pillar of light, the pillar of light began to ripple. Michael could hear the Elemental Empress groan in pain, forcing him to slow down. He didn't want to inflict pain on her since he was pretty sure that the removal of the Soul Pacts' chains would hurt like hell. It was not necessary to torture her even more.
Realizing his mistake, he slowed down his speed of inserting the taming circle and observed the changes occurring in and around the pillar of light. The pillar of light continued to ripple but the Elemental Empress didn't wince anymore. Her breathing grew ragged but that was her only response.
After what felt like an eternity, Michael finished inserting the taming circle inside the pillar of light. Thereafter the changes revolving around the pillar of light became more prominent. The pillar of light was shrouded in a faint crimson hue as it began to expand ever so slightly. What followed next caused shivers to run down Michael's spine.
The Elemental Empress screamed out at the top of her lungs, the chains holding her back rattling wildly. She was in immense pain as the pillar of light expanded, pushing against the Soul Pacts' chains that ought to restrain her pillar of light. However, the pillar of light continued to expand. It was not affected by the Elemental Empress' screams. Michael froze in response, unsure what to do next. He had a plan, but he didn't expect the Elemental Empress to start screaming in pain so soon.
The Elemental Empress continued to scream for a full minute until she went silent all of a sudden. The lack of noise worried Michael even more than her screams. He worried that she might be too weak to scream and that she was actually on the verge of death now.
Suddenly, a faint crackling noise resounded in the eerily silent room. The pillar of light began to ignore the Soul Pacts' chains and expanded past their restrictions, resulting in cracks appearing all over the chains.
As Michael took note of the cracks, a sudden idea flashed through his mind. He closed his eyes and used Extraction. He was already inside the Elemental Empress' consciousness, and the True Link of Loyalty between him and the Elemental Empress was about to be established as well. Therefore, he could use Extraction inside her consciousness, and try to extract the Soul Pacts' chains.
It might work, but it was more likely to fail. Despite that, he wanted to give it a try. Michael wanted to weaken the chains if extracting them was not possible.
Extraction's golden threads shot out, a dozen at once. Each golden thread pierced through the Soul Pacts' chains, infiltrating the inside to extract it slowly.
Several hours passed as he focused on the task, but Michael didn't feel anything. A mere minute, an hour, or weeks could have passed, yet Michael wouldn't be able to notice anything as he focused entirely on extracting the Soul Pacts' chains.
At last, the cracks spread all over the surface of the chains. A loud noise reverberated throughout the Elemental Empress' consciousness as the chains grew even more weak.
Michael left her consciousness in response, but he was still using Extraction. He added another use of Extraction to reach out to the crystal chains that pinned the Elemental Empress to the wall and extracted the last main component.
In the next moment, the chains restraining the Elemental Empress' soul and body broke simultaneously.
Michael expected to hear the Elemental Empress scream resound through the small room, but all he could hear was a heavy sigh, a sigh of relief.
The Elemental Empress slumped down to the ground right after the crystal chains shattered to pieces. She stayed on the ground, panting heavily and unable to even think about moving around. Not having been able to move freely even once in her life, the Elemental Empress felt like she had plunged head-first into an entirely new world; a world full of things to explore.
She could feel that a connection between her and Michael had been established, a connection that would force her to obey Michael's commands even if it meant that she would have to sacrifice herself. But she didn't even bother thinking about that. After living in a literal hell her entire life, the Elemental Empress could only think that her situation would improve after today.
There was no way that her life could get worse.
Michael observed the Elemental Empress for a while and gave her some time to calm down. He expected that something would happen. The Soul Pacts' chains had been broken, indicating that the Soul Pacts weren't valid anymore. Thus, something should be happening now. The Kitsun Lord must have noticed the termination of the Soul Pacts. He must be fuming in anger, initiating some sort of plan to get rid of Michael and take back what ought to belong to him.
And that was exactly what happened right after the Soul Pacts broke. The entire building around them began to tremble as a thunderous explosion resounded from above them.
A tremendous heatwave shot down the staircase, nearly burning Michael alive. He could barely react and manifest a thick layer of Glacicle around his body in response. The Glacicle lowered the temperature in his vicinity and took the brunt of the searing heatwave. A second later, the flames and heat were pulled toward the back of the room. Surprisingly, the Elemental Empress absorbed the flames and heat.
She converted the flames and heat into energy to replenish her vigor and strengthen her pillar of light. For the first time in forever, the Elemental Empress was able to use her power however she pleased. She felt energy coursing through every inch of her blazing body along with a newfound confidence.
Despite the joy of regaining freedom and being able to feel power for the first time in her life, the Elemental Empress didn't look happy.
A wave of sadness swept through her entire being.
"Thank you for serving me," She mumbled sadly, while a deep frown appeared on Michael's.
The Elemental Empress didn't speak to him. Her words were not directed at him at all. She stared in the direction of the Elementals - seemingly staring through the walls - and bowed down in gratefulness.
"What is going on?!?" He asked, a bad feeling resurfacing.
